Читать книгу The Ancient Cities of the New World - Désiré Charnay - Страница 10

Table of Contents

TULA. PYRAMID OF THE SUN. ANTIQUITIES OF TULA.

Caryatides—Columns—Capitals—Carved Shell—Tennis-ring—Tlachtli—Ancient Bas-reliefs—Toltecs Portrayed—Historical Jottings—The Temple of the Frog—Indian Vault—The Plaza—El Cerro del Tesoro.

Tula extended over a plain intersected by a muddy river winding round the foot of Mount Coatepetl, which commanded the city. The modern town occupies but a small proportion of the area of the ancient capital, and the few antiquities that adorn the plaza were found in clearing the river of some of its mud or whilst ploughing the adjacent fields.

TOLTEC CARYATID, TULA.

PARTS OF A COLUMN, TULA.

First in order are three fragments of caryatides: one, a gigantic statue which we reproduce, is about 7 ft. high; the head and upper part of the body below the hips are wanting, the legs are 1 ft. 3 in. in diameter, and the feet 4 ft. long. The two embroidered bits below the waist were no doubt the ends of the royal maxtli, the exact copy of which we shall see later on bas-reliefs in Chiapas, Palenque, and Lorillard City. The greaves, of leather bands, are passed between the toes and fastened on the instep and above it by large knots, recalling the Roman cacles. This statue is of black basalt, like all the other fragments; and although exceedingly rude and archaic in character, is not wanting in beauty in some of its details. Next comes a column in two pieces, lying on the ground, having a round tenon which fitted closely into the mortise and ensured solidity; it is the only specimen we have found where such care had been bestowed. TENNIS-RING, TULA. The carving on the outward portion of the column consists of feathers or palms, whilst the reverse is covered with scales of serpents arranged in parallel sections. This fragment answers Sahagun’s description about the columns of a temple dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, already mentioned, where rattle-snakes formed the ornamentation. It is also interesting from the fact that we shall see a similar column at Chichen-Itza in a temple of the same god. Here also among other fragments I noticed a Greek column with a Doric capital, but on which I dare not pronounce definitely, although there is nothing else in the place denoting Spanish influence. All we can say is that it shows the marvellous building instinct of the Toltecs, and that we found some remains of a like description in the Yucatan peninsula. By far the most interesting object seen here, on account of the study and the archæological issues it entails, is a large carved stone ring about 6 ft. 5 in. in diameter, having a hole in the centre some 10 in. in circumference, evidently a tennis-ring. Tennis, tlacheo, tlachtli, was first known in Anahuac and transmitted to the Chichemecs, Acolhuans, and Aztecs by the Toltecs, who carried it with them to Tabasco, Yucatan, Uxmal, and Chichen; and in the latter place we found a perfect tennis-court with one ring still in place.

We must turn to Torquemada45 for full particulars respecting this national game, which was played in buildings of so typical a character as to be easily recognised. It consists of two thick parallel walls 32 ft. high, at a distance of 98 ft. from each other, having a ring fixed in the walls 22 ft. high, as seen in our cut; whilst at each extremity of the court stood a small temple in which preliminary ceremonies were performed before opening the game. It was played with a large india-rubber ball; the rules required the player to receive it behind, not to let it touch the ground, and to wear a tight-fitting leather suit to make the ball rebound. But the greatest feat was to send the ball through the ring, when a scramble, a rush, and much confusion followed, the winner having the right to plunder the spectators of their valuables. Sending the ball through the ring required so much dexterity, that he who succeeded was credited with a bad conscience or supposed to be doomed to an early death. Tennis seems to have been in such high repute with the Indians that it was not confined to individuals, but also played between one city and another, and accompanied, says Veytia, by much betting, when they staked everything they possessed, even their liberty. But this writer errs in ascribing the game to the Aztecs in honour of their god Huitzilopochtli, as we shall show.

Among other objects which we found at Tula is a large WARRIOR’S PROFILE, FOUND AT TULA. curiously-carved shell of mother-of-pearl; the carving recalls Tizoc’s stone, and notably the bas-reliefs at Palenque and Ocosinco in Chiapas; also two bas-reliefs, one in a rock outside the town, the other, by far the most valuable, in the wall of a private house, but very old and much injured, representing a full-face figure and another in profile; their nose, beard, and dress are similar to those described by Veytia46 in the following passage: “The Toltecs were above middle height, and owing to this they could be distinguished in later times from the other aborigines. Their complexion was clear, their hair thicker than the nations who followed them, although less so than the Spaniards. This is still observable among the few who remain claiming Toltec descent.”

These remains are priceless in every respect because of their analogy and intimate connection with all those we shall subsequently discover, forming the first links in the chain of evidence respecting our theory of the unity of American civilisation, which it is our object to prove in the course of this work.

On beholding these caryatides, the question naturally arises as to what monument they were intended for; and in turning to Veytia,47 we read that under the Emperor Mitl (979-1035) the Toltecs reached the zenith of their power; that their empire extended over one thousand miles, bordering on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; and that the population was so dense as to cause the soil to be cultivated on the highest mountains, whilst an influential priesthood performed the sacred rites within innumerable sanctuaries. The great cities of the high plateaux were Teotihuacan and Cholula, as later Palenque, Izamal, and Cozumel were those of the warm region. This emperor, jealous of the flourishing state and religious superiority of Teotihuacan, “the habitation of the gods,” wished to set up a new and rival deity for the veneration of his people; to this end he chose the songstress of the marsh, the “Frog,” whom he presented as the goddess of waters. And that the new deity should be ushered in with due pomp and solemnity, he had a magnificent temple built in her honour, and her gold statue placed within the temple, covered with emeralds, the size of a palm, and cunningly worked so as to imitate nature. Up to that time, temples had been large mounds erected on the summits of mountains, like that of Tlaloc, or on artificial pyramids like that of Teotihuacan, where the idols were exposed to the elements; that of the Frog was the first which was built with stones and given a rectangular shape, having a kind of solid vault (boveda), also of stone, which by a skilful arrangement covered the whole edifice.48 Here, then, we have a very plain description of the Indian vault, the Yucatec vault, a vault we have observed in the north and the whole extent of our Toltec journey; seen by Guillemin Tarayre in the tombs at Las Casas Grandes, mentioned by Ixtlilxochitl as the distinguishing feature in the monuments of Toluca and Cuernavaca, and by Humboldt at Cholula in the following passage: “On visiting the interior of the pyramid, I recognised a mortuary chamber, having the bricks of the ceiling so arranged as to diminish the pression of the roof. As the aborigines were unacquainted with the vault, they provided for it by placing horizontally and in gradual succession very large bricks, the upper slightly overlapping the lower, and in this way replaced the Gothic vault.”49 This remarkable writer further says, that “Yucatan and Guatemala are countries where the people had come from Atylan and reached a certain degree of civilisation.”50 Far greater would have been his appreciation, had his investigations been directed to the Toltecs and Central America, where the overlapping vault was introduced by them in all public edifices, temples, and palaces. With the testimony of these writers, we may consider the vault question definitely settled.